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The one-day guest is Alvaro from Columbia. He's been in Korea for six years and is working at an advertising company.
He starts to talk about Colombia. He says that there is a variety of natural environments in Colombia, including deserts and rain forests. There are also a variety of people there from all over the world.
Robin asks if Colombia is a dangerous country as it is depicted in many movies. Alvaro says the image is the fault of Hollywood movies. It used to be dangerous thirty years ago. Now as long as you don't go to a dangerous neighborhood you're fine. Guillaume says that having to avoid dangerous neighborhoods itself makes the country dangerous. Alvaro says that there are dangerous neighborhoods in every country.
They ask how people greet each other in Colombia and Alvaro says that people kiss cheeks. This naturally leads to a conversation about kissing.
It's time for the Global Cultural Conversation.
The topic is mysterious cases around the world.
- Alberto reveals a case from 1991 in Italy. While hiking on the Alps, a human mummy was found. It was found that the mummy was 5,300 years old. The man was killed by an arrow. Since the mummy was found, strangely, the people who have had some sort of contact or relations with the mummy died. This led some people to speculate that the mummy was unlucky.
- Julian talks about a mystery at the Farciennes Castle in Belgium. While there was construction going on in 1851, five coffins were discovered. In each body, there was a stake stuck near the heart. To kill vampires, people must stick a stake into the vampire's heart. The people who died were later revealed to be descendants of Dracula. The stakes were put on display, but they disappeared someday. It's a mystery that was never solved.
- In Ghana, people believe in mermaids. If one meets a mermaid while swimming, one drowns or becomes mute. There was a famous case recently. A really famous artist went jet skiing with his girlfriend. The girlfriend fell into the water so the artist went to save her. The artist went missing. It's been several months, but the body is still not found. Sam says that people say the mermaids have the most beautiful faces in the world.
- Zhang says that he believes in UFOs. Takuya says that UFOs don't exist so the MC's call a sudden vote. Who doesn't believe in UFO's? Takuya, Enes, Guillaume and Daniel don't. The MC's then ask if they believe in aliens. Sam, Robin, Alberto, Colombia, China and Julian believe in aliens. Zhang continues his story of UFOs. There was a picture taken of a UFO in a forest in 1994. Within minutes, all the rocks and stumps of trees disappeared. The scientists said the cause was a level of radiation much higher than normal and could not have been created through natural causes. Also, in the inner Mongolia region, UFOs appear often.
- In America in 1947, a flying saucer was found on a ranch in Roswell. Four beings that looked like aliens were found inside. Scientists released a report of the findings, but the U.S. government covered it up. People couldn't find out the truth. Later, a video of the autopsy performed on the beings was released. Zhang says that after he watched the video, he started to believe in aliens. He talks about Neil Armstrong's flight to the moon and that a few minutes of the trip were cut out. Rumors say that in those minutes Armstrong said he saw an alien. Zhang also says that scientifically the moon should orbit the Sun, but it's actually orbiting the Earth and scientists do not know why. The others ask where Zhang read that and he said it was on the news. Tyler says that we don't actually know if there aren't any aliens because we haven't looked for them. We cannot make an assumption based on the little things we know about space.
- Daniel says that in Germany, a mysterious crop circle was found. It's about seventy-five meters in diameter. There are many shapes inside the circle that are so perfect. Grain wheat was flattened to make these shapes. Alvaro says that something similar happened in Peru. A mysterious shape called the Nazca Line that can only be seen from the sky was found in a plain. It was located in the desert so it's difficult to make the shape.
- A few hundred years ago, a pirate hid a treasure on Oak Island according to legend. Three students tried to find the treasure so they dug, but every three meters they dug they hit a wooden floor. They kept digging and in the twentieth meter, they found a big rock with an ancient message on it. A Harvard professor solved the ancient message, which said, "Forty feet below, two million pounds are buried." People received investments to dig deeper. Before reaching the goal, the underground river started flooding. Since the river was connected to the ocean, water kept flooding in. In the end, it became impossible to keep digging and find the treasure.
- Alvarez talks about legendary city of El Dorado, a city made of gold. It is rumored that it is located underground somewhere in Colombia. Alvarez believes that it does exist because the story behind it is true (the king of the natives was covered with gold dust)
He is a famous Korean ballad singer.
He reads the agenda (sent my a Korean citizen):
I have a hyung who doesn't look for work, plays all day and eats all day. He couldn't even keep his first job for three months and stayed at my house for three years now. He says that he needs to get ready to look for work, but I think that's just an excuse. Nowadays he takes money from my house without my permission. We have fought several times and I actually don't want to see my hyung again. I want to sever ties with my brother. Am I abnormal?
Seven out of twelve think that he is abnormal.
Enes thinks that the man needs to sever ties with his brother so that his brother will change. He thinks that since they are brothers they will make up one day so for now the brother needs to realize that what he's doing is wrong and try to change.
Robin says that if the brothers stop living together, then their relationship will become better. Alberto disagrees and says severing ties is serious. Alvarez says that as long as the younger brother explains why he is severing ties it will be fine. Alberto says that throwing away a relationship is not a solution to the problem.
Daniel agrees with Alberto and adds that if the brothers do sever ties, then the parents will be hurt and uncomfortable. Julian disagrees and says that it's no the brother's job to raise his brother and since it's been going on for years, he needs to break the relationship off. Daniel says cutting ties means you've given up on the person.
Robin says that the younger brother has a fault in this situation, too. If he had refused his hyung from the beginning, then the situation wouldn't be like this.
Zhang says that he has two reasons why he thinks the younger brother is abnormal. The first is that since he's the younger son, his parents must have cared for him more than his older brother so helping his older brother shouldn't be a problem The second is that family ties cannot be severed. He brings up the idiom, a dog does not abandon its owner.
Kim Bum Soo says that although the younger brother said he wanted to sever ties, it won't be possible in real life. They have grown up together and raised by the same parents so the connection between them is unbreakable. The only person in the world a brother can really trust is his brother.
The topic changes to relationships between brothers.
Guillaume has a brother who is one year older. Guillaume always won against his brother when they fought since he was eleven years old. He used to bother his brother with wrestling techniques he learned on TV.
Sam says he empathizes with Guillaume on the wrestling because he used to watch wrestling and practice wrestling with his brothers.
Robin also empathizes with the wrestling. He has two older brothers and they used to use wrestling moves on him and hit him. However, Robin says that those were the happy days because they became memories.
Alberto has two younger brothers and says he used to hit and wrestle with them. Alvarez says he used to wrestle with his brother too.
Takuya says that he has two younger sisters, which gets everyone else's attention, ha. Takuya says that the older of the two sisters has a boyfriend. He actually researched her online social media accounts to check out the boyfriend.
The MC's ask, "Takuya monitors his sister's boyfriend through social media. Is he normal or abnormal?"
Six think he's normal and five, including Bum Soo, think he's abnormal.
Kim Bum Soo says that the older brothers of girlfriends that boyfriends really hate are like Takuya. Julian says that Takuya needs to trust his sister more. Alvarez says that men know other men so he understands Takuya. Sam says that he does what Takuya does when his younger sisters get boyfriends.
Alberto says that in Italy and Colombia, friends are not aloud to mention or have interest in each other's younger sisters.
The MC's ask if other countries think that it's important to have a son as the firstborn.
Kim Bum Soo says that he is the oldest so he always felt that he had a responsibility to take care of his parents and his younger siblings.
Daniel says that the oldest son gets the inheritance in Germany.
Julian says that there is no country other than Korea that still thinks the firstborn should be male and that males are more important.
Alberto says that it's not important in Italy but there are stereotypes of the second child as being mischievous and the third child as being a king.
Takuya says that in Japan, the firstborn son has to do the same job as his father.
The MC's ask a question: To support parents, is it important for the firstborn to be male?
Two (Takuya and Kim Bum Soo) say that is is important. Ten don't think so.
Bum Soo says that as a firstborn male, he had more opportunities than his siblings. A firstborn male should repay his family with what he gained from those benefits.
Alberto says that as a European, it's hard for him to understand the concept of a firstborn male (since it's more of an Asian concept). Sam says that in Ghana, the firstborn male usually gets married and moves out of the house first. The male also doesn't have to take care of his parents because his younger siblings will do that.
Enes asks if the siblings move out, who will take care of the parents? Sam says there's no need to take care of the parents. Enes says if the siblings don't want to and think that the oldest brother will definitely take care of their parents what would happen. Sam says that the oldest isn't the only offspring of the parents so they all have a responsibility for their parents together.
Enes thinks that giving all the responsibility to the firstborn son is too much. All siblings should share responsibilities.
Si Kyung asks another question: Should the person who supports the parents the most get all of the inheritance or should it be split equally among all siblings?
The vote is split 6:6.
Julian thinks that the inheritance should be split equally unless there is one sibling that supported the parents more than the others because that person spent more time and money on the parents. Daniel thinks that the person who supports their parents the most should get more than the other siblings. Guillaume thinks that the siblings should follow their parents' decision.
Alberto thinks that everyone should want to support their parents because parents gave so much to raise them.
Jun Hyun Moo asks if people with siblings are jealous of only childs.
Everyone immediately says no. Guillaume says he wishes he had more siblings. Takuya says cautiously that he was jealous at one time because if he were an only child he would have received all of his parents' love.
Julian says that as you grow older, you learn the importance of having siblings. The affection between siblings cannot be bought.
Zhang, who is an only child, said he used to be very jealous of people who had siblings because he was always alone. He was even jealous of sibling fights because he wanted to fight but didn't have anyone to fight with.
Se Yoon and Hyun Moo, who are only children, think that the negative in being an only child is not being sociable. Making relationships is awkward and they don't really know how to do that.
Se Yoon concludes by saying that having siblings is wonderful.
The members go around sending video messages to their siblings to convey their love for them.
The final vote for the agenda is eight votes for abnormal.
My Comments:
The second half of the episode was so heartwarming that I almost forgot about the first part. I enjoyed the Global Cultural Conversation so much because the mysteries are so fascinating. The mystery surrounding those cases makes them so intriguing. I used to not believe in aliens, but I agree with Tyler that there's no evidence that there are no aliens so we can't assume that there aren't any. I learned of the case in America for the first time actually even though I live in America. I heard of Area 51, but I just thought that was a legend with no truth. Perhaps I should open my mind more.
The second half was sooooo good! I have a sibling myself and I realized how much having a sibling was important while watching the show. There really is no bond stronger than family. I liked how the members who have brothers were all similar in that they all used wrestling moves on each other. Ha, boys are the same no matter what country they're from. The ending when they all sent video messages to their siblings was emotional and significant because through the summit they all realized how special their siblings are to them. Watching the cast grow right in front of your eyes is wonderful.
What do you think? Are there any mysterious cases that you know? Do you agree with the conclusion that it is abnormal for a person to sever ties with his or her family?
